Secession: Is There Any State That Could Successfully Secede?

I’ve recently offered the opinion that any person who loves and desires liberty has but two choices:

1) Moving to a state that seceded from the United States

2) Emigration to another country

The more I look at the realities of state government here at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, I am beginning to seriously question whether any current state of the Union has what it takes to even seriously consider secession, much less actually complete a formal secession from the Union.

If any of you watched the movie “The Matrix,” you’ll remember the scene in which Thomas Anderson (not yet Neo) was being removed from the Matrix. In this scene, he awakens before the fluid has been drained from his pod. As he jerks the intravenous lines out of his arms, he peers over the edge of the pod and sees hundreds of other pods below…just like his. They are all storage batteries for the Matrix, kept alive to power the system.

Are the fifty states of the USA any different? Is there any one state that can and will throw off its IV lines and reject the Washington Matrix?

The state governments have been run by Washington for decades now. Many of the DC Congress members got their start in state houses across America. That is where they got a taste for being part of the ruling class. So, state legislatures seem to be the farm system for DC politics.

A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned. The laws that the legislators and Congress members pass exempt themselves regularly. Those exemptions become perquisites (perks) of power.

Because the ruling class is so inured to the trappings of nobility, I gravely doubt whether the present-day state legislators have the ability, morality or courage to cast off from the national sinking ship and seek their own fortunes.

Secession would naturally force any state to radically alter its methods of governance. Otherwise, it would be “mini-me” of Washington.

Here is a short list of the challenges a state will face from secession:

1. The Washington money pipeline will be turned off. How will that state raise revenues? The citizens of that state will expect their taxes to diminish equal to the former Federal burden. If the state tries to sop up the tax revenue that was going to Washington, the citizens could revolt.

2. What will that State do if Washington doesn’t accept their secession? Will it form a state militia and defend its borders? War against Washington is serious.

3. Would the new State reject the jurisdiction of the Federal courts, and thus refuse to accept legal challenges to its secession in any court but its own? What will that State do with seated judges who are anti-secession?

4. Any state that has no history of self-governance will have no clue what to do. States like Texas, which was a sovereign nation before statehood, will be better equipped to move forward.

5. A seceding state will need a founding document, such as a constitution. Why should anyone believe that politicians who either ignore or violate the present Constitution would suddenly become statesmen with consciences?

6. Every state function will have to be evaluated to determine its necessity. However, if a new state government sets about to create new agencies to mimic the DC government, it will not work. “Meet the new boss…same as the old boss.”

7. Will the new State deliver the mail?

8. What will they use for money? US currency? Will the new State mint its own currency, or simply authorize and regulate bank-issued currency?

9. Would the states that share borders with the seceding State honor the secession and seek diplomacy and trade?

10. Would the DC government allow aircraft from the seceding State to fly over US territory, or create a “no-fly zone?” Would the US allow open borders?

You see? Secession, while easy to discuss, is very difficult to performMy conclusion here is this: I do not know of a single American state that comports itself in a liberty-leaning manner in 2009. I do not know of a single state that presently squirms under the thumb of Washington. I don’t see any single state that is serious about secession and becoming a sovereign nation unto itself. Therefore, why should I believe that the secessionist movement in America is anything more than the musings of a powerless, disgruntled minority?

If you know of an American state that is trying to “live liberty”, let me know what it is.

I wonder if any state has people with the intelligence required to secede and then become what the original states were, laboratories of liberty.